Appreciate
by LizArianaJadeCat
Summary: While he was hanging by a thread, these were the final words he said.


_Hey guys!_

_So I took a break from writing Not As Safe As We Thought to listen to some music, and this song came on. It's called 'Appreciate' and it's by Nick Jonas. It's a really heartbreaking song, especially if you have lost a parent. I recommend listening to it before you read this._

_I did get kind of emotional while writing this, I won't lie, hehe. But I hope you enjoy it, I'm quite proud of it :)_

* * *

Appreciate

_There's a man dying on the side of the road_

_Won't make it home tonight_

_He was driving fast, on a cell phone_

_That's how he lived his life_

It's late at night, around ten to be exact. The Los Angeles rush hour passed hours ago and most of the roads are fairly quiet. Except one. This one road is currently blocked off and surrounded by shocked bystanders, police cars, and an ambulance. The bystanders whisper to each other as they watch the police officers wander around, talking to each other in hused tones and pointing around the road. They watch the paramedics brief each other about what's happening, and what their plan of action is. But what they don't see, is the body lying on the other side of the road.

The body is that of thirty-five year old Beckett James Oliver.

He's not dead. Not yet. He is barely hanging on as the paramedics work around him, shoving various needles into his arms and using other contraptions which he barely feels as his entire body is going numb. The head paramedic tries to keep him talking, keep him focused on what's going on and not on the curtain of death that is slowly coming over him. His normally warm, tan skin is now pale, just like his wife's, and his hazel eyes are slowly beginning to close.

Beck is able to fight for a few moments longer, and in that time he begins to reflect upon his life. His wife, Jadelyn August Oliver, is the only girl he has ever loved. They have been together since they were fourteen years old. They had their daughter when he was nineteen and when Jade was only eighteen, it was a surprise, but a blessing. Caterina Hannah Oliver had become their entire lives and they would do anything for her. They had gotten married on their anniversary; seven years to the day that they had first met on the first day of school, and they were still going strong.

He had been coming home after a long night of work. After an extremely long shift at the restaurant where he worked as a waiter, and a fight with his manager about working more hours, he had left disgruntled and began driving home. He was only a couple blocks away from home when his phone rang and he went to answer it. He took his eyes off the road for a split second, unknowing that it would be the last thing he would do.

Now, his entire body is going numb and he can't even feel the excruciating pain in his chest and abdomen. He knows he has limited time.

_While he was hanging by a thread,_

_These were the final words he said;_

He is able to crack a small smile as he thinks about his short-lived life, but then his heart breaks as he thinks of his daughter. His sweet, beautiful daughter. It's her birthday today, and he has barely seen her. A small exchange before he left for work and before she left for school. A lone tear slips from his left eye and falls directly down onto the cold concrete below. With painful gasps, he manages to tell the paramedics his final words:

_"My girl turned sweet sixteen today_

_She's beautiful_

_So beautiful_

_It might get rough sometimes_

_But I hope she keeps the faith._

_I wish I'd grabbed the chance to say to her;_

_Life is too short, so take the time and appreciate"_

And with that final sentence, Beck's eyes close and he breathes for the last time, his head full of images of his beautiful daughter and his stunning wife who he was leaving behind. He can feel the paramedics shaking him, but nothing can bring him back.

He's gone.

_There's a woman crying on the kitchen floor_

_She got a call tonight_

Thirty-four year old Jadelyn August Oliver is lying in the middle of the kitchen floor in her large, beautiful home. Her daughter, Caterina Hannah Oliver is upstairs in her bedroom. She's busy setting up the new cellphone she received today for her birthday from her parents, completely unaware of her mother's heartbreaking sobs coming from beneath her.

The house phone is still clutched in Jade's hand, her already pale knuckles turning even whiter as she grips onto it, hoping to wake up and find out that it's just a horrific dream and that she'll wake up cuddled in her husband's strong arms. But as time passes, she knows that it's not a dream. It's all very real.

A car crash. Her husband. Didn't make it. Very sorry.

Those were the only words she remembers from her phone conversation with a police officer whose name she cannot recall. It couldn't be true. It couldn't be her husband. It couldn't be Beck, _her_ Beck. The only man she has ever loved. There must be some mistake, she only got off the phone with him a few hours ago. He couldn't be dead.

Although she is in denial, she knows that deep down, the police officers are right. Beck would have been home by now. He would have walked in and kissed her softly like he always does. He would have gone upstairs and sang Happy Birthday to their daughter, even though she gets embarassed when her father sings. He would have sat on the couch and cuddled with his wife as they watched a movie until they fell asleep.

But he didn't.

He didn't come home.

Jade lets out another heart-wrenching sob and knows that she has to calm down. But the reason why just sets her off again. Her free hand travels down to her stomach and rests on top of the barely-there baby bump.

She hadn't told him.

She was going to wait until their anniversary.

She should have told him.

She sits up and wipes her face, feeling her eyes beginning to swell and become red from her constant crying. She can only taste tears as she hauls herself up from the cold, hardwood floor and places the phone back in it's stand. She takes a moment to gather herself together before leaving the kitchen and making her way upstairs.

As she stands outside Cat's bedroom door, she hesitates. How can she do this? It's her daughter's birthday and she was about to ruin it with the worst news a child could ever get, especially on their birthday. She can feel more tears coming on and attempts to swalllow them back as she trembles weakly.

_Now she's trembling outside her daughter's door_

_Walks in and holds her tight_

_Wondering how or where to start_

_Is there a way to sheild her heart?_

Jade enters her daughter's pink room and finds Cat sitting on her bed, talking on her new PearPhone to one of her friends. She looks up as her mother walks in and takes one look at the distraught look on her face before telling her friend she has to go, and hangs up. Jade makes her way over to her daughter and looks into her wide and worried eyes. She has her father's eyes, and that just sets Jade off all over again.

She sits beside her daughter and wraps her arms around her tightly. Cat doesn't understand what's going on, or why her mother is sobbing into her shoulder, and she begins to worry. She inhales her mother's perfume that she loved so much and hugged her back, waiting for her to explain.

Jade sits up straight and cups her daughter's cheek with one hand, looking down into her eyes. She doesn't know how or even where to start. She's about to break her daughter's heart. This isn't something she ever envisioned herself doing; telling her daughter that her father just died.

But somehow, she swallows back her tears and breaks the devastating news to her daughter.

At first, Cat doesn't believe it. Stands up and begins yelling at her mother because she thinks it's some kind of sick prank, and that her father is really outside with a present or something; in the driveway with a brand new car. But as she thinks about it more she realises it's not a prank. Her brown eyes flicker over to the clock on her bedside table and she realises that her father should have been home by now.

Cat's big brown eyes fill with tears and she breaks down, collapsing onto her carpeted floor and sobbing loudly. Jade also begins to cry again as she slides down and gathers her distraught daughter into a tight embrace. Cat graps onto her mother's shirt, wailing into her shoulder like a toddler would do if it's toy was taken away.

Jade can't control herself as she listens to her daughter's cries. She's never heard Cat cry like this. Ever. Not even when their dog Lucky - who turned out to not be so lucky afterall - had died several years ago. She had cried, but nothing like this. It's truly heartbreaking. She holds Cat tightly and rocks her back and forth, rubbing her back through her pink bathrobe, and tells her that everything will be okay.

But she's not sure that it will be.

Cat suddenly pulls away and runs through to her en-suite bathroom. Jade winces as she hears her daughter vomiting loudly into her toilet. She wipes away her tears and pulls herself up before making her way through to the bathroom. She kneels behind Cat and lets her collapse back into her after she finishes bringing up the dinner she had eaten not long ago.

Jade embraces her daughter and they cry together for their loss of an extraordinary father and husband. She then breaks the news that Cat will have a little sister. And despite being over the moon about that, Cat cannot do anything but cry over her father.

Neither of them sleep that night. Instead, they sit together on the bathroom floor and reminisce about the wonderful man that was Beckett James Oliver, aka: "Daddy".

_My girl turned sweet sixteen today_

_She's beautiful_

_So beautiful_

_It might get rough sometimes_

_But I hope she keeps the faith._

_I wish I'd grabbed the chance to say to her;_

_Life is too short, so take the time and appreciate._

Today is the funeral of Beckett James Oliver.

It's raining. It always seems to rain on a funeral day. It just seems fitting. Cat thinks back to her English teacher telling them about sympathetic settings; when the weather or surroundings reflect a person's mood. Well, the rain definitely reflects how Cat feels right now as she sits in the front row, staring at her father's coffin and portraits.

Jade grasps her daughter's hand in her own, holding it tightly as they both fight not to break down as Beck's song plays. 'Hear You Me' by Jimmy Eat World. Jade cracks the smallest of smiles as she thinks back to the conversation she and Beck had several years ago about what songs would play at their funerals. Beck had decided on this one, and Jade jokingly said they would probably play 'Ding dong the witch is dead' at hers. Her miniscule smile fades as she thinks back to Beck telling her that he wouldn't let them because she was most definitely not a witch, before he wrapped his arms around her tightly from behind.

She longs to feel Beck's arms wrapped around her waist just one more time. To feel her hand tightly encased in his own large hand. To feel his lips upon hers. To see the look of pure love in his eyes as they make love late at night.

She misses everything about him.

Soon, it's time for Cat to give her speech about her father. Her legs shake uncontrollably as she makes her way up to the stand. She brushes her red hair out of her face and looks out at the sea of distraught faces before beginning her speech with a hoarse, tearful voice.

"My father... was a wonderful man. I admired him so much when I was younger, and I still do. But I never told him that. Before, I could never imagine losing a parent, I couldn't even fathom it. But now it's all I know. It's all I think about everyday and every night. I never got to say goodbye to the man who dedicated so much of his time to be a wonderful father to me and an amazing husband to my mom. I _love _him and I _miss_ him..."

She is unable to finish as she breaks down into a new set of tears. She shakes her head and rushes over to her mother who embraces her tightly as almost everyone in the audience wipes their own tears away. Jade hushes her daughter and kisses her forehead to comfort her, hoping that somehow, things will get easier soon.

_Anybody loving will get hurt along the way_

_Don't be afraid to open up and use the time you have before it fades_

_Show your love today_

It's one year to the day that Beckett James Oliver passed away on that fateful night in May. Things still aren't back to normal in the Oliver household. But with the new arrival, things were beginning to move on.

Grace Rebecca Oliver was born on the ninth of January via a c-section. She was late and Jade had to be induced. And after a lot of tugging, pulling, blood and a pair of clamps - the new addition to the Oliver family arrived.

Cat had instantly taken to the role of big sister and helped her mother as much as she could with the new baby. Jade even caught her singing to the newborn, causing chills to fly down her spine at her daughter's voice. But the thing that touched Jade the most was when she walked in on Cat telling Grace stories about her father. The time when he accidentally dropped her at the playpark when she was five. The time when she was eight and Jade had gone out and left him to make dinner, resulting in three burned fish fingers and a dish-towel catching time when he got drunk at New Year and shaved off one of his eyebrows when she was ten. The time when he had 'the talk' with her first serious boyfriend when she was fifteen.

Jade remembers each event like they happened yesterday.

Now, at ten o' clock at night on the thirteenth of May, Jadelyn August Oliver, Caterina Hannah Oliver and Grace Rebecca Oliver are gathered in the living room. Grace is fast asleep in her sister's arms, but she's very much present. Despite it being Cat's seventeenth birthday and her mother telling her she should go out with her friends, she's here, remembering her father.

Jade twirls her wedding ring around her ring finger on her left hand. She hasn't taken it off and she doesn't intend to. She feels like she would be betraying Beck. And even though he's gone, she can still feel him. She doesn't want to forget him. And this wedding ring makes her feel like he is always there, holding her hand like he always did. She reaches over and takes Cat's free hand, holding it tightly in her own. Her daughter looks up at her and they smile softly at each other, silently telling each other that everything will be okay.

A small breeze floats through the room and they both smile, their eyes tearing up. They know that he is here. They know that he is always watching over them like a guardian angel. They know that he loves them.

_Life is too short, so take the time and appreciate._


End file.
